"Robin May" wrote in message
.4
"Nigel Pendse" wrote the following
in:

I now own a car with a fiendishly complex 32V V8

snip

But a friend's car has a larger version of the same engine, that
was recently ruined when he drove through a deep puddle, because
water got sucked into the cylinders. That cost a cool £10,000 to
repair -- and he was told that he'd got off lightly.

Perhaps it cost so much to repair because it was an unnecessarily
large and expensive 32V V8 engine. This is hardly standard kit.

It was standard kit on that car, a BMW 740. In fact, it wasn't even the
largest engine for that car available at the time -- he could have had the
12-cylinder version instead, which would presumably cost even more to repair
if ruined.

But that's hardly the point, which is that expensive repairs on complex cars
can force them to be scrapped earlier than might be expected. It can happen
just as easily with cheaper as well as more expensive complex cars -- and
most modern cars, regardless of price, are relatively complex.

Just think of a car door. My first few cars had no electric motors or wiring
in the doors at all, nor heating ducts. Now, with central locking, electric
windows, footwell lights, speakers, heated, folding and remote adjustable
external mirrors, etc, there are numerous electric and electronic circuits
and multiple electric motors in each front door, and some in the rear doors
as well. And that's not to mention the strengthening beams to protect
against side intrusions and the sophisticated rust proofing.

Most of this applies to moderately priced as well as expensive cars. If such
a door ever gets damaged, say in a minor accident, repairing/replacing it
will be a much more complex and expensive business than in the old days, and
may bring forward the date when the car gets scrapped.